A peek at flamenco in New York, 1969

Six decades ago a group of flamenco friends in New York published the bulletin of the F.I.S.L. (Flamenco Information Service Library) in a small store-front in downtown Manhattan. The engraving that decorates the front page and which was published years ago, is based on a photograph of Granada dancer Antonio Santaella, but the original text, in Spanish and English, is here reproduced for the first time since 1969. The content paints a vivid picture of the interest in flamenco in New York in the nineteen-sixties, complete with cante festival, when Carmen Amaya and her company, in the early part of the decade, were regularly filling the Village Gate, while Sabicas, armed only with his guitar, packed the great theaters of the city and elsewhere. The FISLetter went on to publish 30 issues currently housed at the Centro Andaluz de Documentación del Flamenco in Jerez de la Frontera.

FISL NEWSLETTER JANUARY 1969  Issue 1 Volume 2

Editor…………………………..Morre Zatania

Special columns… Brook Zern, Anita Volland, Estela Zatania, Richard Brune

Graphic Director………..Francis Walker

MAGAZINE

Looking back on the past year’s publication, we feel that we have made a good beginning in providing a service which can help the flamenco, professional, non-professional or beginner.

Most of you are familiar with the Flamenco Information Service Library (FISL). The library is a non-profit organization which promotes the art of flamenco in North America.

The Library is concerned with all aspects of flamenco expression, dancing, singing and guitar.

"The FISL paints a vibrant portrait of New York's interest in the flamenco in the sixties with a festival of cante including when Carmen Amaya and her company regularly filled the Village Gate, while Sabicas, alone with his guitar, packed the city's great theaters and other venues."

The Library sponsors a Cante Festival annually which, it is hoped, encourages interest and participation in flamenco singing in conjunction with the guitar and dancing.

<scan>The Library has worked together with a group in California in preparing a directory of flamenco artists which went to press in February ’68. Flamencos who wish to be listed in the next publishing should direct their inquiries to the Directory Committee, c/o F.I.S.L. (See form on last page of this issue).</scan>

The most recent contribution of the Library is its monthly newsletter. The letter consists of a number of columns: an Editorial, Letters to the Editor, Rhythm of the Month, The Flamenco Guitar, Biography of the Month, New Books and Records, Advertisements and Current Events. The latter two we hope to expand and make more complete as these are the columns we feel to be most important both for the performing artist and the aficionado.

The editorials have dealt with such subjects as the evolution of flamenco, the cante and Americans, the Festival of Cante Flamenco, the enemies of flamenco, and the state of flamenco in the midwest.

Letters to the editor have ranged from views strongly contrary to those of the editor, to an appeal for standardization in the writing of cifra (a system of annotation for guitar). The exchange of ideas on cifra has led to a system we call the Metcalf method, Clark Metcalf being its main innovator and inspiration, not yet fully developed.